Coventry Autumnal Five - 29 August 2008...

Distance: 5 miles

In a time of...
hh:mm:ss
00:29:17 Personal Best!!!

Finishing Position: 22
Number of finishers: 223
Putting me in the top: 9.86%

I write this expecting it to be a short but sweet race report – the race seemed to lack the huge pre-race buildup that races normally do… I think this was owing to the excitement of collecting my new car just hours beforehand!

I arrived at Memorial Park in Coventry with plenty of time to spare before the start of the race, parking extremely carefully as to not get a splash of mud on my shiny new (well new to me at least) car. Within a few minutes I was entered and was literally seconds away from receiving the highly desirable "got your number!", race number 118 – instead I was left with the unexciting number 117. I said my hello's to the other club members and realised the circuit was the opposite direction to that of the May Day Five I'd completed at Memorial Park during my time at University. A gentle jog around, a few bursts of speed and I was warmed up and ready to go as the runners made their way to the start line.

I never like to line up at the front of a race, so tend to end up positioned behind runners I know I'm faster than, today I decided to line up to the side of the race field, knowing I could slip down the side on the grass when the race was underway.

Off we went to the sound of the starting siren, I scooted down the side and noticed two other club members ahead, as I'd expected, there also appeared to be a sea of red & yellow vests from the Coventry Godiva club members – they were flying and occupied the first 5 or so positions for at least as long as they remained within my sight.

I passed a few people, a few people passed me, and I was soon in a position that wasn't likely to change much. I went from feeling like I still had an eternity to go, to being on the last lap of the course and thinking how close I was to the finish! I'd set my sights on a competitor ahead who I wanted to try and close in on, and although I wasn't able to reach him, I did close in on another fading runner as we passed the 3mile marker. My plan was to sit on his shoulder and pass him at 4miles, putting in a hard last mile and hopefully closing the gap to the next competitor.

At around 3.5miles, I felt this guy who I'd caught was holding me up – in hindsight it was probably more the adrenaline than anything that made me feel that way. I passed him with ease and pushed on, as I approached the 4mile marker I was tiring and the thought of another mile was not pleasant. I pushed on in fear of losing a place and with probably 0.4miles to go, I was exhausted. Pace dropped and as I looped back past the start line I knew I was close enough to the finish that I wasn't going to die – as per usual all pain subsided at this point and I picked up the pace for a reasonable finishing burst.

I finished as third club member in a time I was originally a little disappointed by, but soon realised that it was the fastest pace I'd maintained during any race to date (including shorter distances). I was soon on my way home – grinning from ear to ear after a good race and further enjoying my new car.